Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale - Sikh Missionary Society (UK)

against devout Sikhs. Khushwant Singh further alleges that Sant Bhindranwale 172 'wellunderstood that hate was a stronger passion than love: his list of hates was even more clearly andboldly spelt out. On top of the hate-list were apostates (patits) who dishonored emblems of theKhalsa by cutting their long hair and beards, smoked, drank liquor or took drugs. However, thesepatits could be redeemed if they agreed to mend their ways and accept baptism. Next on the listwere Sant Nirankaris who had gained a sizable following among the Sikhs. They had committedthe cardinal sin of recognizing a living human being as their guru when it was an article of Sikhfaith that only the holy book, the Granth Sahib, was the 'living' embodiment of the ten gurus. TheSant Nirankaris had also fabricated their own sacred texts, Yug Purush and Avtar Bani. Theywere therefore beyond redemption and had to be liquidated. Finally, there were the Hindusuncomfortablyclose to the Sikhs, and far too many to be liquidated. The only way of dealingwith them was to treat them with contempt as an effeminate, non-martial race and a lesser breedwithout the law. Had not the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, proclaimed that one Sikh was equal to asava lakh (one and a quarter million) and a fauj-a one man army? So spoke Bhindranwale: oneSikh could easily reckon with thirty-five Hindus.' About one occasion when he met SantBhindranwale, Khushwant Singh reports 173 :'Bhindranwale's short speech was largely addressed to me as I had been hauled out ofthe congregation to sit on the dais. He towered above me; a steel arrow in one hand, themicrophone in the other. Pointing to me he said: "This Sardar Sahib here writes that Ispread hatred between Hindus and Sikhs. This is wrong. What I do is to preach thegospel of the Gurus; I do amrit parchar and persuade young Sikhs to stop clipping theirbeards, stop smoking and drinking. If I had my way, I would get hold of all theseSardars who drink bhisky-shisky in the evening, pour kerosene oil on them, and set thebloody lot ablaze." This statement was greeted with loud acclamations of boley sonihal! Sat Sri Akal. It was ironic that more than half the Sardars sitting on the dais withme, and a sizable proportion of the peasant audience, were hard-drinking men.'We have not been able to locate these comments in any of Sant Bhindranwale's speechesavailable to us. Sant Bhindranwale's speeches indicate that he hardly knew Khushwant Singh. Inany case, the following statements by Sant Bhindranwale 174 regarding consumption of alcoholappear to completely contradict Khushwant Singh's report:'I have declared that if there is someone who drinks while wearing a kirpaan, and youcatch him drunk, the punishment I have announced is that you should get him examinedby a doctor (to make sure he has been drinking) and then pour kerosene over him andburn him alive. I shall fight your court case. This is regardless of the party affiliation ofthe person in such a garb doing such a thing. My appeal to all is that no one shoulddrink but this does not apply to the others, it is only for those with the kirpaan. ... If anyraagi 175 , sant, mahatma, granthi 176 even if he is from Bhindranwale (group), who wears172 Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, Volume 2: 1839-1988, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, Delhi, India,1991, page 330-331.173 Kuldip Nayar and Khushwant Singh, Tragedy of Punjab, Vision Books, New Delhi, 1984, page 27.174 Interview with Mr. Surinderjit Singh Bains, January 1983.175 One who professionally sings verses from Siri Guru Granth Sahib.176 One who professionally reads from Siri Guru Granth Sahib.33